A Re-cap of Travel in 2016.

It was a high-spirited 2016!

Sometime around this time last year, as curtains slowly drew on 2015, I made a resolution for 2016, and it was that I would make 12 trips and explore 12 new places in 2016, each dedicated to a month of the year. And someone benign on the ‘other side’ granted my wish and gave me one extra trip. Yes, I made 13 trips this year.   

As this year draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude for the year that has been, and more importantly for the travelling I have been able to do. My travel this year was a mix of heritage, culture, cuisines, trekking, nature trips, textile trails, so on and so forth. I realise I am left with a huge back log of posts, as I’ve been either travelling, or planning my next trip or tending to my Art.

Let me walk you through my delightful experiences this year :-) There were 13 major trips and also a few discoveries within Pune that I have also blogged about.

The cave monasteries in Junnar.

The first trip in January was a good dose of history and Archaeology. I travelled with Heritage Insights, a group started by a team of Archaeologists and Indologists who are doing an excellent job taking the rich history and culture of India that is lesser known to a wider audience. That trip was like an official introduction to Indian history and archaeology for me. The trip was to the 2000 years old Buddhist cave monasteries in Junnar. The trip enlightened us about the ancient Indo-Roman trade and its symbiotic relationship with the mushrooming of monasteries along the trade routes. Luckily, I’ve written about this and you may read it here:-)     

A Striped Tiger butterfly.

One Sunday we also went for a butterfly trail with The WesternRoutes and learnt to identify different species of butterflies in the garden. The small park is situated right in the middle of a residential area and the gardener, having taken a keen interest in butterflies, planted flowering shrubs and plants that attract butterflies and thanks to his efforts, the small garden now has around 50 species of butterflies. We spotted the Common Mormon, Striped Tiger, Blue Tiger, Crimson Rose, Common Crow, etc. At one point after the sun rays lit up the garden, there were so many butterflies flitting around, it felt like a fairy land!

Strawberry picking in Panchgani.

Next, also in January, I lived my childhood fantasy to some extent of picking strawberries from a farm. I ate a lot of freshly plucked strawberries and also got back some with me and made jams and parfaits J I surely have a thing for fruit picking! Read about my apple picking adventure here.

Chapati impressions in Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum (instruments for making impressions on flatbread).

Come February, we visited the Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum in Pune which houses interesting and ancient artifacts belonging to different eras. We also chanced upon a jaggery making set up on the outskirts of Pune. I, for one, substitute sugar with jaggery wherever possible, because refined sugar accelerates aging apart from the other harmful effects it has on the body from high consumption. So I was delighted to see how jaggery, an oft used ingredient in my kitchen, is made. You can read about it here.

Fresh jaggery !

Heritage Insights had announced its second trip for the year to the lesser known princely states of Phaltan and Aundh. How often do you get to meet people of royal lineage and interact with them? The current Prince, Shri Raghunath Raje Naik Nimbalkar took out time to interact with our group and narrate stories about his dynasty. He even offered us tea and snacks. Yes, we snacked in the palace of the King J While I’m yet to blog about this, it was an enriching experience to go around the Rajwada (palace) and learn history from Royalty himself. The Rajwada has been maintained in excellent condition and it was like stepping back in time to see the artifacts, furniture and objects dating back hundreds of years.

Posing with Prince Raghunath Raje Naik Nimbalkar. 

The Rajwada made entirely of wood and in prime condition. 

I had been wanting to visit Velas for quite some time and that desire materialised in February this year. Velas is a sleepy non-descript village on the Konkan coast which is now on the global map thanks to the conservation of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles by the village people. It was a dream come true to welcome button-like baby hatch-lings into the world and watch them crawl their way to the mighty ocean and be swallowed by waves. You can read about that experience here.

Baby Turtles in Velas. 

March saw us attend a wedding in Delhi. I did make use of that trip to explore the city’s gastronomical delights, including a visit to a 115 year old kulfi shop. Other interesting activities included a visit to the National Rail Museum where I kept wondering where aesthetics has disappeared in trains today and a heritage walk with INTACH Delhi to the Lodhi garden tombs. Take a look at the pictures of the trains from yore and read about the Heritage walk with INTACH here. 

Bada Gumbad in Lodhi gardens. 

Paan flavoured kulfi at Kuremal Kulfi shop (betel leaf flavoured kulfi)

This is an old train carriage from the 19th century. So artistic! 

In April I ticked another desire off my wish list. I had first heard about the rhododendron flower in Lobsang Rampa’s book. Later I heard that rhododendrons grow in the higher reaches of the Himalayas in India too. I wanted to visit Sikkim where there are dedicated rhododendron sanctuaries, but that was not to be, so I went on a rhododendron trail to Uttarakhand on the Deoriataal-Chopta-Chandrashila peak trail. The most memorable was the 16 km trek through virgin forests between Deoriataal and Chopta where the whole forest blushing with pink rhododendrons greeted us. It was like being in fairy land. I was drunk high on the beauty of the forest as well as on rhododendron juice ;-)

I am guessing Heaven would be like this?? 

Matching in pink! 

While Mumbai is next door and may not qualify as a trip, I would still include it in that category because I had signed up with Khaki Tours to explore the lesser known aspects of an area in Mumbai. Having grown up in Mumbai, I feel there’s a lot to the city that I still don’t know. The Lalbaug Stroll, a walk designed by Bharat Gothoskar of Khaki Tours led us through narrow gullies, crumbling buildings, secret farms, erstwhile sacred groves and had us delighted at discoveries in the city notorious for its super-fast pace of life.

This used to be a sacred grove/ forest many years ago before it became a concrete jungle!

The idols of the deities who were forest protectors remains though. 

Fiery chillies in the Lalbaug market. 

In June came another surprise. I had been wanting to visit the remote village, Kalap, since three years and suddenly in mid-June I found myself in the  un-touched, pristine, beautiful village of Kalap. The high point of my trip was camping for 2 nights and a day at the highest point in that village, called Beejay Top, at 12,500 feet above sea level. I lazed around the whole day on a carpet of flowers, watching sheep and buffaloes pass by, sipping tea, chatting with nomadic shepherds, reading a book and dozing off and on. Of course, I got severely sun-burnt and it took two months for my skin to go back to normal. But that’s not what will stay with me forever. The memory of trekking through virgin forests, gurgling mountain streams, alpine meadows and surreal landscapes surely will.I wrote a piece for the Better India, which you can read here. 

Lazying in Beejay Top. 

Gorgeous sunsets! 

The beauty of the forest was overwhelming. 

Houses in Kalap. 

July was another month for some serious and enjoyable history and Archaeology. We again travelled with Heritage Insights to the 1500 year old cave structures of Ajanta and Ellora. Words fail to describe the stupendous beauty of Kailasa, the largest monolith temple in the world. Every inch of the temple is sheer poetry in stone. We also took the same route that a British Cavalry soldier named John Smith took in 1819 when he discovered the Ajanta caves where 2000 year old paintings on stone still continue to dazzle people.

An entrance to a cave temple in Ajanta. 

The magnificent Kailasa cave temple- the biggest monolith in the world. 

The inscription of John Smith who discovered Ajanta caves in 1819.

Soon after this trip, I attended a 3 day seminar on ancient Temple Architecture conducted by Heritage Insights. The erudite Dr. Shrinivas Padigar enlightened us in a lucid manner about the development of temple architecture since the last 2000 years and the different aspects of its style.

Dr Shrinivas Padigar enlightening us on ancient temple architecture. 

August saw us visit Puttaparthi and then we spent 3 days in Bangalore, exploring old, traditional eateries in the city. Went around the old markets in Basavanagudi to take in the vibrant colors, smells and sounds. The change of weather in Bangalore left me with a bad sore throat which again took a month to recover.

The melt in the mouth dosa in CTR, Bangalore. 

Take your pick from the 100 varieties of snacks. 

Right in the beginning of the year, I had kept October as a free month with no travel, because there was Durga Puja in the first week of the month and Diwali at the end, so I wanted to be home and celebrate with my husband.

Bright flowers in the market. 

I had plans for September of volunteering in a farm in a place from my childhood dreams, but again that was not to be. But turns out everything that happens is for one’s best. I had not recovered from my throat infection and my husband too was down with flu. Had the trip happened I would have been away for almost 20 days. So, I am happy in hindsight, that I was resting at home and also present for my husband.

We found a Veena making workshop. 

We went to Goa in November for a friend’s wedding. Some people would be annoyed if I say that Goa is over hyped. It’s too touristy for my taste, or maybe I haven’t discovered the less touristy places there. While we didn’t go around much, the high point of the trip was the wedding itself. My dear friend had chosen a perfect venue for his wedding, by the sea. With the music of the waves crashing on the rocks, the soulful rendition of the Shehnai by a very talented musician, the moon above accompanied by the Vedic chants as the couple took their vows made for a surreal experience.

The venue of the wedding. 

Another sudden trip in November was to Guledgudda to meet the weavers of Khun and Ilkal and then a heritage trail to Badami, Pattadakkal ( a 1500 years old UNESCO World Heritage Site), Aihole, Gadag and Lakkundi to marvel at ancient temples and their architecture. While I am yet write about this power packed trip, I did manage to write a post on Khun.

A weaver weaving Khun. 

Ilkal saree. 

 This month, we attended a wedding in Rishikesh, on the banks of the river Ganga and then headed to Shimla and then spent a day in Chandigarh. This was again a gastronomical delight to sample various winter delicacies up north.

The famous and delectable gulab jamun at Baljee's in Shimla. 

One can't go to Chandigarh and not have rajma chawal ( rice and kidney beans).

The scrumptious winter speciality- makai ki roti and sarson ka saag (corn flour flat bread and mustard leaves curry). 

The year is coming to an end and I have given myself a good score for travel although not for blogging regularly. As the sun sets on this year, I await the sunrise on the new year and look forward to the amazing places where the winds will take me. 

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Amantran Agri-tourism and one of the Cleanest Public loos!

The entrance at Amantran. 

After our heads and hearts were appeased by the visit to the 2000 years old cave clusters, Amba-Ambika and Bhutlinga, organized by Heritage Insights, it was now time to refuel with some good food. We headed to Amantran agri-tourism and were truly impressed by the lunch spread and more by the clean toilets, so far the cleanest public loo I've used in India.

The walls are covered with Warli paintings. 

....And plastic bottles recycled as planters....

The décor of the restaurant which part of this set up is simple yet interesting keeping up with the rural setting with warli motifs. The owner Shashikant Jadhav himself goes around serving and attending to people who come to eat.

The owner Mr. Shashikant Jadhav.

Let me allow you to drool at the picture of the lunch- thaali. 

One of the best meals I've had! 

There was bajri chi bhakri (flat bread made out of pearl millet flour). I was intimidated by the size of the bhakri which was almost 12 inches in diameter. Then there was a chutney made of garlic and chilies, a delectable spicy bhaji or subji made of broad beans and peanut powder, a very special Maharashtrian dish called maasvadi served with peanut gravy. Maasvadi, the name is a misnomer since ‘maas’ usually means meat, but this dish is made from cooked chickpea flour with a stuffing of spices and coconut and then rolled on to a cloth, opened and then sliced. Do eat this dish whenever there is an opportunity. In November last year when I had visited the Bhimthadi Yatra (will post about that soon), I ate it there too. The dessert was some lip smacking, scrumptious sheera, kesari or sooji ka halva with banana in it. There was rice too, but my stomach was full with the 12 inch bhakri, so I did not take that.

The kitchen where the women make bhakris. 

Bhakris are made on the coal stove which enhances its taste manifold. 

We had a peep into the kitchen where Mr Jadhav's wife oversees the cooking and herself cooks for the guests. We were told they women together make around 350 bhakris or flatbreads each day with around 30-40 kgs of pearl millet flour. 

The menu on the board. 

After our plates were served, Mr Jadhav, himself went to each and every person asking them to eat well, in the spirit of true Indian hospitality.

There are nests made for the birds.....how nice! 

The loos were the cleanest, as I’ve mentioned, so it is highly recommended for people travelling on the Nagar - Kalyan Highway No. 222 (7 Kms from there), Pune - Nashik Highway No. 50 (18 Kms from there), to take a pit stop, and refresh.

Other activities at Amantran. 

They also have rooms where one can stay overnight, although I did not have a chance to check them out. Amantran provides agri-tourism activities like bullock cart ride, farm visits and rural games for weary urban people longing for a getaway close to nature. They also have a counter where there sell fresh farm produce like black raisins, kakvi or liquid jaggery and other things. 

You may check their website: http://aamantranagritourism.com/

Exploring the 2000 years old Buddhist Cave clusters at Junnar.

Entrance to the Bhutlinga caves. Photo by Saili Palande Datar.

When the shout-out in one of the dailies mentioned, “exotic Buddhist caves”, I knew I had to go! And I was delighted to know that the tour was organized by a team of an Archaeologist and Indologist, which meant that there would be a rich wealth of information and stories, to satiate the history buff in me.

Copy of the Brahmi script. 

Somehow I couldn’t transfer the fees for the tour in time, and pleaded fervently (lol) with Saili Palande Datar , the co-founder of Heritage Insights, with whom I travelled, to include me, on the eve of departure. The pleading did work, and I found myself, the next day, with an equally eager and enthusiastic bunch of people ready to explore the lesser known, 2000 years old cave clusters in Junnar, in Maharashtra. I was surprised to know that there are around 185 such caves in the Junnar region alone and many of them yet to be discovered.

Map with the locations of Buddhist caves in Maharashtra. 

Map of the Indo-Roman trade routes. 

It was extremely fascinating to know how these caves came to be developed. After the Samadhi of Gautama Buddha, his disciples took upon the task of spreading Buddhism all over the world, starting with India. Often they travelled with traders on well-known trade routes. But during the Monsoon, they stayed put in one place for shelter. This was called Varshavaasya, ‘varsha’ meaning rains and ‘vaasya’ meaning residence. Initially, probably they must have sought out natural caves, but when monks starting extending their stay beyond the four months of Varshavaasya, they started building permanent monasteries and cave dwellings. The funding for building the monasteries came mainly from the traders who would seek shelter and food in exchange for funds. The type of funds varied from wood, vessels, grains, cloth, etc.

Entrance to the Chaitya griha of Amba-Ambika caves. 

The sculpture of Amba-Ambika from which the caves derive their name. 

The whole Amba Ambika cave cluster. 

Several inscriptions on the stone also revealed that projects within the cave complex too were sponsored, like water reservoirs, or specific pillars, as an action of ‘punya’, or benevolent actions done specifically for atonement of sins or to appease the Gods that be. This is similar to what we see in parks or buildings, stating that the seats or certain amenities have been donated by a certain person. Several parts of the monastery like meditation cells, or the ceiling or relief work were left unfinished due to the unsuitable nature of the rock and seepage, although in some other caves, elsewhere, work has been left incomplete due to shortage of funds, much like some construction projects of today. Some things don’t change even in 2000 years, I thought to myself!

Entrance to the Bhutlinga caves. Notice the intricate carving on the facade. 

The Chaitya griha with a domed ceiling.

And who were these traders and where did they come from? These were Roman traders who carried out trade via sea, through Egypt, Alexandria and Arabia. The ports where the ships were anchored were Bhrugukachh (Bharuch in Gujarat), Shurparak (now known as Nalasopara in Mumbai) and Calliena (Kalyan near Mumbai). The Romans carried cotton, ivory, spices, silk, pearls, and exotic fauna like tigers, cheetah, peacock, and rhinos to Europe and in return brought gold, silver, wine and slave women to India. The goods brought would be loaded onto bullocks which passed via different ghats to reach important cities in the Deccan region like, Junnar, Pratishthan (Paithan), Nasik and Tagar (Ter).

Carving of a Bodhi tree.

The sculptures of Naga and Garuda. Notice the wings on the figure to the left and the multi-hooded snake behind the figure on the right. 

The then major dynasties of India, the Satvahana and Kshatrapa fought amongst themselves to control the trade routes, as that would mean a lot of wealth as the passes or ‘ghats’ on the Western Ghats were used as collection points for taxes, equivalent to the toll that we have today. It was interesting to know that for traders who used the pass often, they even had discounts similar to the discount on monthly toll passes of today.

Inscriptions stating that a trader has sponsored work for this part of the cave. 

Intricate carvings. 

So the cave monasteries and the Indo-Roman trade had a symbiotic relationship each thriving on the other. But after the 2^nd century BC, the Roman economy collapsed thus impacting the trade which came to a grinding halt towards the 3^rd century CE (Christ Era).

Carvings of Goddess Lakshmi in the centre and elephants, devotees and floral motifs. Photo by Minal Karekar and Swapna Pataskar

A closer shot. Photo by Saili Palande Datar. 

Our first stop was at Manmodi hill, where after a short uphill trek we reached the cave named Amba-Ambika. During the briefing, Yashodhan Joshi, another co-founder of Heritage Insights, showed us the map of the ancient Indo-Roman trade route and also handed copies of the ancient Brahmi script (the language used was Prakrit with a few words of Sanskrit origin) which we used later to understand inscriptions (with a lot of difficulty). All the caves we visited were carved out from the mountain or hill. The cave cluster called Amba-Ambika derives its name from the sculpture of Goddess Ambika which was carved by the Jains in the 9^th and 10^th century CE, after the caves were abandoned by the Buddhist monks. This was a two stories cave cluster with an unfinished Chaitya Griha (prayer hall with a stupa at one end). Two pot based pillars at the entrance were re-constructed by the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) and were hence of a different colour. Around 50 inscriptions regarding donations made for the construction of this cave have been found in the Chaitya griha.

Water reservoirs. Rain water harvesting was done even then. 

Further down the Amba-Ambika caves are the Bhutlinga caves, named after the main Chaitya griha with ‘naga’ (snake) and ‘garuda’ (eagle) motifs and the stupa which is considered a ‘Shivlinga’ by locals. The façade of the cave was very well done and was donated by an Indo-Greek trader (locally called yavans) named Chanda, as we learnt from an inscription.

The dents on these stones are for sticking in wooden sticks and watering it, so that when the wood expanded the pressure would break the stones. Here they are left unfinished.

Copper deposits in a rock which render it green. Somewhere on the way...

All these two cave groups were built or rather carved between 1^st to 3^rd centuries CE. Considering that entire caves had to be cut out from the hill, one would think that it would have taken a hundred years for them to have been built. But Saili, the Archaeologist in the team said that one cave cluster would have taken around 15-20 years. This and well as other facts about the life of the monks and ruling dynasties have been gleaned  from years of research by scholars through various sources like coins, inscriptions, references to the names on inscriptions found in the literature of the period, etc.

The Chaitya griha at Tulja caves. 

A distant shot of Tulja caves.

By this time we were satiated by this interesting history and it was time to satiate our hunger. We headed to an eatery in an agro-tourism enterprise called Amantran and after a lip-smacking traditional lunch, headed to the Tulja cave group. The name derives from the deity Goddess Tulja whose shrine was built in a much later period in one of the abandoned caves. This cave group is considered much older than the rest by scholars, which means it wasbuilt in the 1^st century CE or even earlier. There was a circular Chaitya griha here as opposed to the hall like spaces in the previous caves with 12 octagonal pillars around it which indicates that it is from an earlier period.

On the way to Naneghat. Notice the triangular natural formations on the rock. 

Our last stop was a cave in Naneghat. On the way to the cave we were greeted by a giant stone pot which was believed to have been used for tax collection by the then queen of the ruling Satvahana dynasty, called Nayanika or Naganika. This is not a Buddhist cave but was built more as a commemoration of the main political people of the time. In this cave all the three walls of the cave were covered with inscriptions which give a lot of details about the politics of the time. The names of Shri Satkarni and his wife Nayanika, who was a very influential queen feature prominently in the inscriptions. The inscriptions also talks about the Yagnas that Nayanika performed and the donations she made for the Satvahana Empire. At one there were inscriptions serving as labels to the now absent statues of different people like Naganika and her husband.

The giant stone pot used for tax collection by Queen Nayanika.

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Inscriptions on the walls in Naneghat.

We spent some time in Naneghat taking in the panoramic views under the crescent moon before boarding the bus. This trip was surely a heady mix of heritage, history, information, and being transported for a brief moment, to the life that was, 2000 years ago!

The crescent moon for a beautiful end to a very interesting tour. 

Do follow the FB page of Heritage Insights for updates on their Heritage tours! I am certainly awaiting the next one!